Sunday, July 19, 2009

Paul started the post by adding a bunch of pictures, but never finished it so I thought I would finish it before it's time for a new post.

So, I guess I should explain the title. My niece Haley spent last week at our house while her babysitter was on vacation. I've had to come up with things to do during the afternoons when Grace and Lydia napped. I was going to make some Nilla wafer cheeseburgers, but instead decided that cupcakes might be easier (plus I really wanted brownies!) Check out our "burgers and fries!"Last weekend a blimp flew over our house. It must be cool since Paul took pictures and thought they were blog worthy.

It's probably not the best summer to decide that we are going to actually be good gardeners since I'm pregnant and can barely bend over to weed anything. So far we've had lots of asparagus, radishes, plenty of lettuce, beans and a few peas. (I don't know if the asparagus should get us any green thumb awards since we only throw some salt down every year). We've also had a few raspberries and strawberries, but we seem to be in competition for the berries with the birds. I think they are ahead! It's the first year for both berries so I think they might take a couple years to get going. Hopefully we'll have carrots, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, and grapes by the end of summer. If the sun is out, Grace and Lydia are ready to get out the pool and swim all day. What better day to spend the day that layering a toddler's skin in sunscreen, sand and water. Lydia is quite the climber, usually she likes to climb everything that is tall and makes me panicky, but occasionally she'll keep lower and may even throw in a pose and a cheesy grin!

Sand, water, toys, and of course, great friends!

Good thing we upgraded the sandbox last summer. I don't know how many kids can fit into the tiny turtle sandbox.

Lydia's back to normal at the top of the playset! That's my happy climber!

Yes, I do occasionally dress my girls in the same outfit. I often dress them in the same color too - not necessarily because I am "that mom" or because I think it's adorable. I think it's much easier to have to look for one color when I scan a playground or a large group of children. Haley wasn't required to wear matching clothes, but apparently this day she did.

Here are the three girls together. Don't be thinking anything cute is going on! Grace wanted to play with Lydia. Haley just wanted her picture taken lots and I was taking pictures of Lydia. Lydia wanted both Grace and Haley to leave her alone and get off her toy!!! Poor Lydia they had intruded from both sides.

In an attempt to keep an 8 year old occupied during nap time, I decided to make some sidewalk paint. Apparently sidewalk chalk loses it's luster by July!

Here are my future artists! Lots of colors, lots of patio to cover! By the time they were done, the entire patio was painted. All three girls and the poor dog were all colored head to toe as well!

It might be a good thing after all that we will be welcoming another little girl! Can you imagine how Grace and Lydia would dress a little brother!

Keep the expectations high girls! Don't accept any diamond smaller than those massive chunks of plastic.

Princess Grace!

When they aren't painting on the patio, they colored inside. Yes, Lydia is chewing on the crayon.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Lydia is learning to enjoy the limelight. Here's she's 'cheesing' with a sweet kiss from mom.

And cheesing with corn & a silly straw.

Of course, Grace isn't one to be out done.

We enjoyed the Germantown July 4 Parade from Park St. with the Oertels, the Folks, and the Mathies.

One of Grace's first treats was an icy pop. I thought that was rather clever of the Cub Scouts...until two other groups handed out the same treat. I must just be out of the parade-treat loop.

We found out early in the parade that Grace wasn't a fan of loud fire trucks, loud 'vettes or loud Harley's. (Later, she would hide from fireworks too.) But then again, she's less than 10 feet from the siren when it blew. It's kind of like taking a gun shy dog to shoot sporting clays. What do you expect?

Lydia wasn't phased by loud noises as long as she was with Dad and had a cracker.

Alex, how many tootsie rolls are there? 8 of 31? I'm a little rusty on the math; is that more or less than 60%? I think you owe me half of Allie's candy. And then the wives complained that we gambled too much if we're gambling our kids candy.